I admit, I don't know the methodology here, but I'm inclined to agree that Iowa football is worth a lot of money.

The Wall Street Journal ranks Iowa football No. 11 in the country as far as value goes. The study examines factors such as revenues and expenses, adjusting for cash-flow and risk factors, as well as a projection for future growth. The final valuation represents what a program would sell for if they were bought and sold like pro franchises.

Iowa's valuation -- the work of Ryan Brewer, an assistant professor of finance at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus, who calculated the intrinsic valuations for 115 of the teams in the top-tier Football Bowl Subdivision -- jumped nearly $100 million in 2013.

My opinion? You -- you guys, the fans of Iowa football -- are a good investment. Even though you're getting restless -- Kinnick didn't record a sellout for the first time in Kirk Ferentz's 15 seasons in '13 -- you remain a solid bank of funds that will allow Iowa sports to compete/exist/pay big money for coaches.

I love the speculative notion built in here. To me, a lot of that is you guys. It helps to have winning teams (of course), but you're more than willing to put your money where your mouth is. This study shows what your value would be if Iowa football were for sale.

I have not give you enough credit.

Check this post in the lead up to the Outback Bowl. I compared college football stratification to Major League Baseball. I compared Iowa to the Cardinals/Twins/Pirates. Iowa is higher than the Royals in budget, but not the Yankees and certainly not LSU.

This study, on some intrinsic level, says Iowa is an LSU.

But remember, we're talking finances and values, not running backs and linemen. Iowa has value, but it doesn't have the blue-blood tradition/recruiting base/cachet that LSU or Michigan or Texas has. Thrash all you want, you know it's true.

Your love of the program has value and right here it is. It's worth a lot of money, too. It just won't buy five-star recruits, which is the real raw material that stratifies the Texas/Yankees and Iowa/Cardinals of the world.

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